I'm thinking that I'll go through this thread once it quiets down and make a list of the suggestions/questions. Also, people can email me. Or ask directly on the Planar Circle ask the factory thread, Steve will pass the question or suggestion on to Wendell.

From now on, Newform Research will be shipping only upgraded main loudspeaker models so that connection to a fully digital system is just plug and play for the owner. We are completely convinced that it is only a matter of time before everyone converts to full digital systems. That is, digital crossovers and bi-amping (or tri-amping with subwoofers).

Sure the site is dated at this point but IMHO they were the first ones I know of to embrace the digital amps and crossovers and most of all biamping.

When the early Maggies first came out in the late 70's the larger models (Tympani's) were designed to be easily bi-amped and there was a pseudo affliation with ARC who designed an active XO for the speakers. The ability to biamp continued with the 20's and 3's up until the the 3.7's. One of the nice features of Maggies is that implementing biamping is relatively easy because of the pure resistive load. Magnepan should continue allowing the user to take advantage of that inherent feature.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." Einstein

I was deliberately not touching the wide possibilities of digital implementation in my comment. Digital XOs are extremely competent under the condition that source material is digital already and only. For many, the analog playback is still somewhat the reference to which digital is measured, so a regular electronic crossover device tailored to a specific Magnepan model would definitely be of greater acceptance per se.

How hard would it be, to equip the 1.7, 3.7 & 20.1 range with individual terminals for each driver, and thus circumventing the crossover ? -and second, developing an electronic "blackbox" to substitute the passive XO ?

With a little imagination and determination, such a solution could be realized at a very sensible price point. I´m sure that Magnepan knows how much gain in quality an active driven setup does deliver on their speakers.

In Reply to: RE: ??? posted by play-mate on October 15, 2011 at 04:28:06

DEQX for original equipment manufacturers DEQX is committed to helping established loudspeaker and pre-amplifier/amplifier manufacturers provide true ‘High Definition’ audio performance. At this time, only a small segment of the general public has ever experienced High Definition speakers, just as ten years ago, few people had seen HDTV.All that is about to change. The era of passive and uncorrected loudspeakers speakers will soon be as obsolete as monochrome television. The High-Definition ‘being there’ experience is finally easy and inexpensive to achieve for manufacturers. More importantly, virtually all consumers can hear the benefits, as surely as they can see the benefits between SDTV and HDTV.Even the highest quality loudspeakers benefit from DEQX-HD’s active correction of individual drivers in both the time and frequency domain using DEQX’s low-latency FIR (Finite Impulse Response) processing

in other words, they need to get together with DEQX and Bang & Olufsen. Both of those companies are working with oems that want to make revolutionary products.

In Reply to: RE: ??? posted by hemholtz on October 15, 2011 at 06:07:16

Dawnrazor : what is the prob ? :-) -I was only adding a point to "The peleton"s wish list....

I am not so sure that Magnepan is that conservative though.

-and thanks Hemholtz If you have a closer look at my own configuration, you will find out that I am exactly running my Maggies same way as DEQX : digital crossovers including FIR filtering. It is just "packaged" differently and is significantly cheaper !

In Reply to: RE: ??? posted by play-mate on October 15, 2011 at 09:19:54

deqx and b & o can fit it all on a couple small circuit boards. they would fit in a box the size of the exernal crossover. i'm talking powered maggies with a mains power plug, spdif in, usb, and maybe a mic for the "deluxe room calibration package". for the price they could get for these they could probably throw in a netbook with all the software installed. i know deqx has a nice wizard type setup program for their stuff.

In Reply to: RE: ??? posted by play-mate on October 15, 2011 at 09:19:54

Hey Leif,

Nothing personal. I was grumpy because I couldnt sleep and well Dawnrazor is a general thinker and the whole world seems to be unable to understand that sometimes. And then one of my favorite inmates gets all specific on me.

In Reply to: RE: ??? posted by play-mate on October 15, 2011 at 04:28:06

Man,

Once again my "general" thinking gets tripped up by most of the world that is so "specific" oriented.

Who cares if it is digital or analog? The fact is that their speakers are set up for easy bi-amping. That is what you are asking for right?? Just unconnect the passives and connective some sort of active device.

I agree that magnepan can do this if they want to. Newform has embraced it so certainly a first rate company like Magnepan could do this. I just dont think they do want to or that they see an upside.

There is something to be said for an "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality.

Just a guess but since they grew up in the 70s (hey specific minded individuals here is another chance to waste time :)) they are probably so rooted in the old hifi industry of dealers and reps that it might not do anything but hurt their business to do that kind of thing. How many dealers even stock or can order crossovers?? How many can configure them? I am guessing that dealers are more their customers than tweakers, and those same dealers probably have their own lists of things to improve on. Just a wild guess but the top one has to be production and order fulfillment...

Man I cant wait till the industry as a whole makes the move to the direct to customer model. Some are already there and they seem to be thriving. Emotiva, wyred, Odyssey, etc.

OK speakers are tougher, but Magnepan does that with the mmgs, and now the minimags? They have to ship the speakers anyhow. maybe offer a white glove service where Jim Smith of "Get Better Sound" fame flies out and sets them up if you want it. Sad thing is that they are all at rmaf and will miss this awesome post :)

Oh and I dont think magnepan thinks there are issues in how their speakers sound so even if they get the fact that biamping improves them I dont think they see a big need to improve anything right now but I could be wrong.